Rapidly measuring spatial accessibility of COVID-19 healthcare resources: a case study of Illinois, USA.
Int J Health Geogr
; 19(1): 36, 2020 09 14.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-757061
Preprint
This scientific journal article is probably based on a previously available preprint. It has been identified through a machine matching algorithm, human confirmation is still pending.
See preprint
This scientific journal article is probably based on a previously available preprint. It has been identified through a machine matching algorithm, human confirmation is still pending.
See preprint
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), causing the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, has infected millions of people and caused hundreds of thousands of deaths. While COVID-19 has overwhelmed healthcare resources (e.g., healthcare personnel, testing resources, hospital beds, and ventilators) in a number of countries, limited research has been conducted to understand spatial accessibility of such resources. This study fills this gap by rapidly measuring the spatial accessibility of COVID-19 healthcare resources with a particular focus on Illinois, USA.METHOD:
The rapid measurement is achieved by resolving computational intensity of an enhanced two-step floating catchment area (E2SFCA) method through a parallel computing strategy based on cyberGIS (cyber geographic information science and systems). The E2SFCA has two major steps. First, it calculates a bed-to-population ratio for each hospital location. Second, it sums these ratios for residential locations where hospital locations overlap.RESULTS:
The comparison of the spatial accessibility measures for COVID-19 patients to those of population at risk identifies which geographic areas need additional healthcare resources to improve access. The results also help delineate the areas that may face a COVID-19-induced shortage of healthcare resources. The Chicagoland, particularly the southern Chicago, shows an additional need for resources. This study also identified vulnerable population residing in the areas with low spatial accessibility in Chicago.CONCLUSION:
Rapidly measuring spatial accessibility of healthcare resources provides an improved understanding of how well the healthcare infrastructure is equipped to save people's lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings are relevant for policymakers and public health practitioners to allocate existing healthcare resources or distribute new resources for maximum access to health services.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pneumonia, Viral
/
Catchment Area, Health
/
Coronavirus Infections
/
Health Resources
Type of study:
Case report
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
Int J Health Geogr
Journal subject:
Epidemiology
/
Public Health
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S12942-020-00229-x
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